<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Welcoming One-Shots by Aravis_Bryir</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26792260">Welcoming One-Shots</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aravis_Bryir/pseuds/Aravis_Bryir'>Aravis_Bryir</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Welcome to the World [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Black Friday - Team StarKid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, One Shot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:35:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,785</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26792260</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aravis_Bryir/pseuds/Aravis_Bryir</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is going to be a series of one-shots based off of my 'Welcome to the World' series. You don't need to have read the series to read these, but it may help with context for some of them. They're all gonna be random snapshots of the characters lives, before, during, and after the series. But if you are reading the series there aren't going to be spoilery one-shots before the chapters.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ethan Green &amp; Hannah Foster, Hannah Foster &amp; Lex Foster, Hannah Foster &amp; Webby, Lex Foster &amp; Ethan Green, Lex Foster/Ethan Green</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Welcome to the World [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1911025</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Are you okay?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Potential TW: This chapter talks about a lack of eating so if that's not your cup of tea, then don't read it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Lex are you okay?” He asks, sitting next to her in the school’s cafeteria.</p><p>“Yeah, I’m fine.” She says. She was sitting slumped in her chair, holding her head in her hands.</p><p>“You sure? You’re not exactly looking that great.”</p><p>“Gee, thanks.” She said sarcastically. “I said I was fine.”</p><p>“But whenever you say ‘fine’ it typically means that you’re not fine. See, I speak your language.” He gives her a playful nudge. “Here, have something to eat, it might make you feel better.” He offers her his lunch tray.</p><p>She looks at the food piled on top of it hungrily. Her stomach rumbled at the mere suggestion of being able to have even a small portion of it. She wanted to eat it so badly. She shakes her head. “No, that’s okay, I can’t take your food from you.”</p><p>“I heard your stomach rumble from here. Go on, have some.” He says, continuing to push the tray in front of her.</p><p>“No, it’s yours, Ethan, you have it.” She didn’t want him to have spent any money on her. He bought this food it was his to eat.</p><p>“I know you’re thinking about the money, and if it makes you feel better, my dad gives me lunch money.” He says, smiling at her. There was a lot that she kept hidden from him, but one thing he did know was that she was always overly conscious of how much things cost. She didn’t want anyone to spend money on her. He also knew that she didn’t often have money to get herself any lunch.</p><p>“It doesn’t.” She gets up from the table. “I think I’m just gonna head to maths early. I’ll see you later.” Standing up made her feel dizzy. Not that that was unusual. She was always dizzy, and always had a headache.</p><p>She wobbled a little as she began to walk away. A side-effect of being dizzy meant she sometimes had a hard time balancing. She pushed through the feeling and kept moving towards the exit. </p><p>She was surprised when she suddenly found herself sprawled on the floor, Ethan standing over her.</p><p>“Yeah, you’re not okay.” He says. “I’m gonna take you to the nurse.” He helps her up and walks her out into the corridor, heading straight to the nurse’s office.</p><p>“Please don’t take me there.” She leans heavily into him, finding it rather difficult to support her own body weight.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“They’ll ask too many questions.”</p><p>“Like when the last time you ate was?” He stops walking and looks at her. “Because seriously Lex, when was the last time you ate.”</p><p>She sighs. “I don’t know.”</p><p>“You don’t know? How do you not know that sort of thing?”</p><p>She was on the verge of tears, her head pounding. “I just don’t. I can’t remember.”</p><p>“Okay. Well, do you at least have food at home?” He knew that Lex was the main breadwinner in her family and knew that she would be the one to do the grocery shopping.</p><p>“Yeah. Mum eats most of it and whatever’s left I give to Hannah.”</p><p>“What about you?”</p><p>“Hannah needs it more than me.”</p><p>“You need it too, Lex.”</p><p>She shook her head, wincing. She lifts a hand to her forehead, groaning a little. The pain was getting worse. It was hard for her to think straight. “Let’s just go to class.” She didn’t think she’d be able to stand for much longer, even with Ethan’s help, though she wasn’t about to admit that.</p><p>“No, I’m taking you to the nurse.”</p><p>“No, Ethan, you can’t.” She begs. If the nurse found out that Lex hadn’t eaten anything in who knew how long, then she’d want to talk to her mum. That wouldn’t end well. Sure, her mum could pretend to be a loving and caring mother when the need arose but as soon as she was alone with Lex, shit would hit the fan.</p><p>“You’ll be okay. The nurse will get you something to eat, since you won’t take my food.” He said, continuing to walk her towards the nurse’s office.</p><p>“Please don’t take me there.” What if the nurse made her take off her jacket? What if she saw all of her bruises? Lex couldn’t let that happen.</p><p>“Why are you so bent on not going there?” He asked. “You’re making it sound like it’s the worst thing in the world.”</p><p>The tears that had been building up began to fall. She broke out of Ethan’s grip and leant against the nearby wall, sliding down so that she sat on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest with trembling hands.</p><p>“Lex?” He crouched in front of her confused and concerned.</p><p>Slowly, she took off her jean jacket, revealing the scars, bruises and burns that littered her arms.</p><p>“What happened?” He asked. He’d never seen her bare arms before. She looked so much smaller without her jacket. It was pretty bulky and covered how thin and how bruised she was.</p><p>“My mum happened.” </p><p>And that’s when she told him everything. How her mum treated her. Why she worked so much, so she could pay for rent and food. How her mum took most of her money for alcohol, cigarettes and weed. How her mum ate all the food, leaving only scraps. She told him how she always made sure that Hannah got any leftovers. She didn’t have enough money left to feed herself. She told him that no one could know about any of this. She couldn’t have anyone call CPS and take Hannah away.</p><p>“That’s why you can’t take me to the nurse.” She sniffed, wrapping her jacket back around her. “No one can know any of this. Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”</p><p>“I promise.” He says. “On one condition.”</p><p>“What is it?” She looked at him, scared of what he might say.</p><p>“That everyday you eat my lunch.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I have food at home. I don’t need it at school. You do. So, I want you to let me spend my lunch money on you.” He extends his hand to her. “Do we have a deal?”</p><p>She didn’t have to think on it much before she took it, giving his hand a shake. “Deal.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Telling Him</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She needed to tell him. He had every right to know. She knew he’d be happy about it, but that didn’t stop her being overcome with the feeling of fear.</p><p>This wasn’t something they had planned. Yes, they’d talked about it, but as something that would happen way in the future, not while they were still teenagers. She had only just turned nineteen for crying out loud.</p><p>She began pacing back and forth across the bedroom floor. Could they even afford this financially? They’d only been in California a few months and they didn’t have a ton of money to their names.</p><p>She sighed and slumped down on the bed, holding her head in her hands. She was going to have to tell him, and soon. There was no way she could keep this to herself much longer.</p><p>It was then that he walked in. “Hey babe, did you have a good day off?”</p><p>With the door to the bedroom open she could hear Hannah running around, no doubt stimming in some way.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” He asks when she doesn’t answer him. He goes and sits beside her.</p><p>“Nothings wrong.” She says hurriedly. “Well, it’s not something that is classified as wrong, at least I don’t think it’s wrong really. And I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t say it’s wrong either. It’s just complicated and scary.” She rambles.</p><p>“Okay, slow down.” He says. Something was definitely on her mind. He takes her hand and gives it a squeeze. “Do you want to tell me what you’re talking about?”</p><p>“I do. I really do want to tell you, but I don’t know for sure how you’re going to react. It is something that you deserve to know, it’s just scary. The thought of it is scary and I can’t make it stop being scary.”</p><p>“Hey.” He says softly, whipping a tear away from her cheek that she hadn’t even realised was there. “You can tell me. I can’t make it any less scary for you, but whatever it is, I’m here to help you, okay?”</p><p>She took a deep breath. “Okay.” She squeezes his hand before turning and facing him. She takes another deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”</p><p>“Are you serious?” He looks at her full of love and hope.</p><p>“Yeah, I went to the doctor today and…” She didn’t get to finish her sentence due to Ethan kissing her.</p><p>“This is amazing.” He whispered before kissing her again.</p><p>“Ethan, we’re still teenagers. We’re too young for this. We’ve only just moved here. We can’t afford a baby.”</p><p>“Okay; one: you’ve been raising Hannah since you were ten, I don’t think we’re too young. Two: Having only just moved has nothing to do with this, we have a roof over our heads and that’s what matters. Three: don’t worry about the money, we’ll make this work.”</p><p>“Are you sure?”</p><p>“I’m sure.” He kisses her once more. “I love you and I love our baby.” Nervously he moves one of his hands down to her stomach.</p><p>She takes his hand in her own, holding it there, reassuring him that it was okay. “I love you too.”</p><p>“We are going to be amazing parents.”</p><p>She smiles and kisses him.</p><p>“Lexi?” Hannah was now standing by the door. She walks in and sits herself on Lex’s lap. “Hug.”</p><p>“You want a hug?” Lex wraps her arms around Hannah.</p><p>She shakes her head and pokes Lex in the chest.</p><p>“I want a hug?”</p><p>She nods. “Webby says.”</p><p>“Well if Webby said it then it must be true.” She kisses the top of Hannah’s head, giving her a hug. In that moment she knew that everything would be okay. It wasn’t going to be easy, but in the end it would all be okay. She loved her sister, she loved her boyfriend and she already loved her baby.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Who's That?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Just so you know in this chapter Ethan and Lex are both 11 turning 12 and Hannah is about 14 months old.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey there.”</p><p>Lex jumped and quickly shut her locker, though she was careful to make sure it didn’t slam. “Jesus, you shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.” She said, glaring at the boy who had just spoken.</p><p>“Sorry.” He said holding up his hands in surrender before extending one out to her. “My name’s Ethan by the way.”</p><p>“Good for you.” She said, ignoring his hand. She just wanted him to leave, she had precious little time out alone in the corridor before she needed to return to class.</p><p>“Aren’t you gonna tell me your name?” He asked.</p><p>“Why would you care?”</p><p>He shrugs. “I dunno, I just see you hanging around here all the time. You’re always alone, I figured you might like a friend.”</p><p>“Well, I don’t, I’m fine on my own. So, you can go away now.”</p><p>“I see you out here.” He says. “My classroom’s just there.” He pointed at a nearby door with a small window set into it. “I always see you go to your locker in the middle of every class without fail. What’s up with that?”</p><p>“None of your business.” She snaps. She pauses a moment before speaking hurriedly. “You didn’t see what’s in my locker, did you?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Good.” She breathed a sigh of relief. Her secret was still safe.</p><p>“What’s in your locker?”</p><p>“None of your damn business, alright? Are you done with all your stupid questions now?” She glared at him once more.</p><p>He looks taken aback slightly. “I… uh… Sorry?” He stutters. “I was just curious. And I wanted to make sure you were okay.”</p><p>She was surprised, why would he want to see if she was okay? “Well, I’m fine. You can go away now.” She wasn’t fine. She was tired and hungry. She was stressed and falling behind on <br/>schoolwork. But those were all her problems.</p><p>“I don’t think you are fine though. I think there’s something going on with you.” He said, taking a step towards her. “It’s okay, you can tell me, I won’t tell anyone.”</p><p>“Tell you? Tell you! Why the fuck would I tell you anything? I don’t even know you! I don’t need your help, so go away and leave me alone!” She yells and immediately realises her mistake. “Shit.” She says as soft cries start up, the noise originating in her locker.</p><p>It takes Ethan a few moments longer to hear the cries, having been digesting Lex’s words. “What’s that noise?” He asks.</p><p>“Please go away.” She begs, she needs him to leave. She needs him to leave so she can open her locker.</p><p>The cries grow louder.</p><p>Fuck it. She opens her locker, all too aware that Ethan was standing there. “Hey, it’s okay, you don’t need to cry.” She says softly to her baby sister who was in the locker. She takes hold of her hand, rubbing the back of it with her thumb until Hannah stops crying.</p><p>“Is that a baby in your locker?” He asks. Out of all the possible things she could have in her locker, he was not expecting there to be a baby.</p><p>“Yes.” She says not taking her eyes off of Hannah.</p><p>“Lexi.” She says.</p><p>“Yeah, that’s me. I’m right here.” Lex smiles at her.</p><p>Hannah smiles back and lets out a string of babbling nonsense. </p><p>“Whose baby is that?” He asks.</p><p>“She’s my little sister.”</p><p>“Why is she in your locker?”</p><p>“Mum can’t take care of her and we can’t afford a sitter.” She said. Her words were more or less true. It wasn’t that her mum couldn’t take care of Hannah, she could if she actually tried, she just didn’t want to. Lex was too young to be able to get a job, so she had no money to have someone else take care of Hannah while she was at school. So, every day she carried her into school in her backpack and left Hannah in the locker. Lex would come up with an excise in the middle of every class to leave for a few minutes so she could check on her and give her food and water.</p><p>“So, you take care of her by keeping her in your locker?” Ethan asked.</p><p>“Precisely.” She suddenly turns to him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and slamming him into the wall on the opposite side of the corridor. “And if you breathe a word to anybody, if you even think about telling someone about this then I will hunt you down and end you.” She says in the most threatening voice she can muster. “You have to swear you won’t tell anyone.”</p><p>“I swear.” He says, rather frightened.</p><p>She studies him for several long moments before letting go of him and going back to Hannah.</p><p>“I’ve gotta go back to class now, Banana, I’ll see you again real soon though.” She says.</p><p>“Hi Banana, I’m Ethan.” He says grabbing Hannah’s hand and shaking it.</p><p>“Don’t touch her.” Lex said making to pull her arm away. She stops when she realises that Hannah wasn’t crying like she normally did when someone who wasn’t Lex touched her. In fact, she was smiling. “Woah.” She said.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“That’s the first time she hasn’t cried when someone she doesn’t know touches her.” She looks surprisedly between the two of them.</p><p>“Guess she must like me.” He shrugs.</p><p>“Webby.” Hannah says before speaking in babbles.</p><p>“I’ve really gotta go now.” Lex said. She always hated leaving Hannah, but she had to, unless she wanted her teacher coming after her. “Bye Banana.” She waved while slowly closing and locking the locker. She walks back to her classroom, Ethan doing the same.</p><p>“Hey, I never got your name.” He calls out to her.</p><p>She pauses, turning around to face him. She thinks a few seconds. “It’s Lex.”</p><p>“Well, I’ll see you around, Lex.” He smiles at her. “And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about your sister.”</p><p>“Thanks.” She smiles back briefly before ducking inside her classroom.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Safe and Sound</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This is actually inspired by the song 'Safe and Sound' I think the original is sung by Taylor Swift but I've only listened to the Sabrina Carpenter version</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hannah was crying loudly in the corner, covering her ears against the yells that reverberated around the trailer’s interior. She sunk to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. She didn’t know what was happening, nor did she know what to do. There was so much noise. It was surrounding her. Drowning her.</p><p>The she was picked up off the ground and carried into another room. Lex was with her and had brought her to the relative safety of their room.</p><p>Lex put her down on their bed, closing the door and sliding their chest of draws in front of it, preventing it from being opened. She took a step back, breathing heavily. She takes a few moments to collect herself before turning to Hannah.</p><p>“Hey, it’s okay.” She said, rushing over when she noticed the tears falling down Hannah’s cheeks. “You’re safe here.” </p><p>There was loud banging on the door, followed by more yelling.</p><p>Lex closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before smiling at Hannah. She wipes away her tears. “Everything’s going to be okay.”</p><p>Hannah sits curled up on their mattress, staring wide-eyed and scared. “Scared, Lexi.” She whispers.</p><p>“I know. I’m sorry.” She sits down next to her, pulling Hannah onto her lap, rocking her gently. “But it’s going to be okay. Do you know why?”</p><p>She shook her head as she clutched onto her sister.</p><p>“Because one day where going to go far away from here. Somewhere beautiful and sunny. Somewhere that never rains. You’ll be safe there and happy. You’ll have so many friends. You’ll be able to do anything you want to do.” She kisses the top of Hannah’s head holding her tightly. She had no idea if this dream was ever going to come to fruition, the whole idea was farfetched. There were days she thought that she’d end up dying in the trailer. It had always been more of a prison than a home. But she dreamed that one day Hannah would know someplace better. Somewhere where dreams came true.</p><p>“Where?” She asked.</p><p>“I don’t know. California maybe? Wherever it is it’ll be full of opportunities for both of us.”</p><p>There was more banging and yelling causing Hannah to let out a small yelp and bury herself into Lex.</p><p>“It’s okay.” She says soothingly. “Soon, we won’t be here anymore. We’ll be far away from here. Far away from mum.”</p><p>“Ethan?”</p><p>“Yeah, he can come too.” She said. She had always fantasised about being able to spend her life with him. She really liked him, loved him even. He and Hannah got along so well. He was the first person, apart from Lex, that Hannah was able to talk to. </p><p>“’fornia soon?” She looked up, having stopped crying despite the continued barrage of bangs on their door. She was totally enraptured by the fantastical dream that Lex was weaving.</p><p>“Yeah, California soon.” She knew she needed to make this happen. Even if it wasn’t all the way to California. As long as she got Hannah out of this shitty living situation, she would have done her job. She wouldn’t let her break this promise. Lex had no idea if Ethan would actually come with them when they eventually left. She hoped he would. He’d already done so much for them, she couldn’t make him leave Hatchetfield if he didn’t want to. She texts him.</p><blockquote>
  <p> I wanna take Hannah and get out of this place. She wants you to come. Are you in? </p>
</blockquote>It doesn’t take him long to reply. He always kept his phone at hand just in case they needed him.<blockquote>
  <p> Sure. Where’re we going? </p>
</blockquote>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p> California. </p>
</blockquote>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p> I though you meant to the park or something, but yeah, I’ll go to California with you. </p>
</blockquote>Her heart leapt. Was he serious? Would he really come with them? She was filled with more hope than she’d ever felt before. This was something that they might actually be able to pull off. With the two of them, there’d always be someone to take care of Hannah. But still, she had to make sure he knew how serious she was being about leaving.<blockquote>
  <p> You know I’m saying I want to live there right? Are you sure you still want to come? </p>
</blockquote>He replies almost instantly.<blockquote>
  <p> Of course I still want to go with you. But if we’re gonna take Banana and live there, we have to do it properly. Wait until we’re 18 and get custody of her and shit. </p>
</blockquote>Lex felt her heart sink a little.<blockquote>
  <p> I’m not sure I can wait that long. </p>
</blockquote>Her living situation became more precarious with each passing day.<blockquote>
  <p> Don’t worry. I’m here for you. Everything will be okay. I’m gonna get you girls out of that shithole and take you to California. </p>
</blockquote>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p> I love you. </p>
</blockquote>She typed and sent the words before she had a chance to realise what it was exactly that she had said. She had never said those words to him before, she still technically hadn’t. But now he knew. She felt a wave of dread wash over her. He texted her back before the feeling had time to settle.<blockquote>
  <p> I love you too. </p>
</blockquote>“We’re going to California, Hannah.” She said, kissing the top of her head. They were going to be safe.
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. On the Road</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was the first night of their journey to California. They were trying to spend as little as possible and so were trying to avoid staying in motels for the most part. The result being that this first night they were sleeping in the car.</p><p>They had figured out during the day how the best way to achieve this would be. They decided that they’d lay the front seats back as far as they’d go and Hannah would sleep lying on top of Lex like she sometimes did.</p><p>It wasn’t the most comfortable of ways to sleep but they managed. </p><p>Ethan had pulled over at some miscellaneous rest stop on the edge of the highway. They ate some petrol station sandwiches for dinner before setting up their ‘beds’ for the night.</p><p>“Night girls.” Ethan said as he laid back.</p><p>“Night.” Lex replied, making sure that Hannah was comfortable before allowing herself to relax.</p><p>Hannah had remained silent most of the day. She was excited to leave Hatchetfield, but she was nervous about going to California.  She was also rather nervous about sleeping in the car. Anyone could just come up to them here. </p><p>She was still awake after a few hours. Lex and Ethan had already managed to fall asleep, their hands joined over the car console that was between them. </p><p>The highway rest stop they were at was in the middle of nowhere. Wilderness was all around. It was surprisingly loud. Hannah could hear all sorts of animals and insects outside. The noises were making her scared. What if a bear or mountain lion attacked them?</p><p>“Lexi?” She whispered, poking her sister in the face to wake her up.</p><p>“Hannah, what’s wrong?” She murmured sleepily.</p><p>“Scared.”</p><p>“What’s scaring you?” She asked.</p><p>“Night-time.” She replied, looking anxiously out of the car window. She had always been a little scared of the dark. She always had to sleep with the curtains firmly shut. But the car didn’t have curtains so the night beyond was looking in.</p><p>“It can’t hurt you, Banana.” Lex said, stroking Hannah’s hair.</p><p>“Can. Noises can.” She said.</p><p>An owl hooted nearby. Hannah let out a gasp of fear, burying her face into Lex’s chest.</p><p>“It’s okay, it’s just an owl. Nothing out there can hurt you.” She kissed the top of her head.</p><p>“Scared Lexi.”</p><p>“I know, but nothing’s gonna hurt you.” She gave her a squeeze. “I’m not gonna let anything hurt you, okay?”</p><p>“Still scared.”</p><p>“Do you want me to go out and scare off all the animals for you?” She asked.</p><p>Hannah shook her head, hugging tightly onto her. She then pointed at Ethan.</p><p>“You want Ethan to scare off the animals?”</p><p>She nodded.</p><p>“Okay.” She began to shake him awake. She felt bad waking him up. He was pretty tired, having done most of the driving and would be doing more the following day. Lex had helped out a little, but she was the most competent of drivers. Nor was she legally allowed to drive. “Ethan, wake up.”</p><p>“What?” He groaned as he was roused from sleep.</p><p>“Hannah’s scared; she wants you to make sure that nothing’s outside the car.” Lex explained.</p><p>“Don’t worry, Split, the only scary thing out there is me.” He said, getting up.</p><p>“Not scary.” She said poking him.</p><p>“I am too scary. Watch me scare off all the night animals.” He got out of the car and started walking around making a lot of noise to frighten off any nearby wildlife. He soon returns to the car. “That scary enough, Banana?”</p><p>She nods sleepily.</p><p>He ruffles her hair. “Night, Split.”</p><p>“Na-night.” She says, quickly falling asleep on top of Lex.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I thought of this after watching the latest episode of 'Are You Scared?'</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Asking Her</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He wanted to marry Lex. That wasn’t new information, he’d known that he wanted to marry her for years. The moment he’d met her he knew he was a goner. She was the only girl for him.</p><p>They had talked about getting married. They both agreed that it was something that would happen one day when they were older. Once they had properly settled into life in California. They’d planned to wait until around their mid-twenties to get married, and then wait for Hannah to be grown up before having kids.</p><p>That had been the plan anyway.</p><p>But there they were, nineteen years old and expecting a baby. </p><p>He didn’t mind. He secretly hadn’t wanted to wait until they had kids. He was so excited to become a dad.</p><p>He had decided that since they were going to be parents earlier than expected that they could get married earlier than expected too.</p><p>He already had a ring. It had belonged to his grandmother, and she’d given it to him before she died. It was simple and elegant. Just a gold band with three small diamonds embedded into the metal. He couldn’t wait to give it to Lex.</p><p>He’d already asked Hannah for permission to marry Lex. He wasn’t sure if she quite grasped what marriage was, having never really been exposed to it. But she had given her blessing after he explained the basics of it to her.</p><p>Now he just needed to ask Lex. He knew that it should be simple, nothing extravagant, because she didn’t like that sort of thing. She didn’t like excessive attention or spending money on something deemed unnecessary.</p><p>They had been curled up on the couch together. Hannah was already in bed, though it was only a matter of time before she got too lonely and come lay down with them.</p><p>He was still trying to figure out the best way and time to propose to Lex, when she spoke, breaking him away from his internal planning.</p><p>“We should probably get married.” She said quietly.</p><p>“Huh?” He said not quite catching what she was saying, too distracted with his own thoughts.</p><p>“I said, we should probably get married. You know, because we’re gonna have a baby and I want them to grow up in a stable home.” She said.</p><p>He figured it was now or never. He got off the couch, pulling the ring from his pocket and getting to one knee in front of her.</p><p>“How long have you been carrying that thing around with you?” She said once she figured out what was going on.</p><p>“A few years.” He said with a shrug.</p><p>“Years? Where did you even get it from?”</p><p>“It was my grandma’s. She gave it to me before she died, and I knew that one day I’d give it to you. I you accept it that is.” He suddenly became nervous but fought through the feeling. “I love you, Lex.” He began. “I have always loved you. You have always been it for me. You’re my endgame. I can’t imagine life without you. I don’t want a life without you. You’re my best friend and the love of my life and I don’t want to spend a moment without you. So, will you marry me?”</p><p>“I literally just said that we should get married.” She said.</p><p>“Is that a yes?”</p><p>“Yes, dumbass.” She gets off of the couch and joins him on the ground, planting a kiss on his lips. “I can’t imagine life without you either. You mean so much to me. I don’t know where I’d be without you. I love you. So of course, I’ll marry you.”</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>